The key position on the field of Austerlitz [in Moravia, December 2, 1805] was a three-mile-long ridgeline called the Pratzen, about a mile and a half east of a stream called the Goldbach. Napoleon had deliberately yielded the Pratzen heights, which seemed to be the best tactical position, and had formed his army instead mostly west of the Goldbach stream. Read more >>

Although Bonaparte sent messages into Genoa telling Masséna [the French commander bottled up there by the Austrians in April 1800] to hold out as long as possible, time now was of the essence. Read more >>

Napoleon Bonaparte’s military genius burst on the world like a meteor. He was only 25 years old and inexperienced in war when he mounted cannons at the harbor mouth of the great French naval base of Toulon in 1793. Read more >>